Årsgång
by Mathias Koehler
Summary: In the old days, man tried to catch a glimpse of the future in the strangest of ways. They locked themselves in dark rooms, not partaking of food and drink. At the stroke of midnight, they ventured out into the night, through the dark woods where strange creatures roamed. Berwald has made his mind up. He is going to year walk. {Folklore, gratuitous use of Swedish, Berwald-centric}
1. Rörliga Bilder

**Årsgång**

**A/N: **_**Hej, welcome to Årsgång. This story is based on the adventure/horror game known as "Year Walk". Year Walk is set in 19**__**th**__** Century Sweden, and is based on Scandinavian (and, by extension, English) Folklore and the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian idea of Year Walking. The first paragraph is a direct quote from the start of the game, and the chapters are all named after the songs in the game. They are by Daniel Olsén, apart from "Oh the Joy", which is by Jonathan Eng. As the chapters are named after the songs, there will be approximately 19 in total. "Year Walk" belongs to Simogo entertainment, "Hetalia: Axis Powers" belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya, Studio Deen and FUNimation Entertainment. The idea to create this story is mine. Welcome to your Årsgång.**_

_**Quick Note**__** – The pairings can be ignored, whilst they romance itself is quite important to the story, those involved in it aren't that much.**_

_**Berwald Oxenstierna is Sweden.**_

_**Berwald is a German, Danish and Swedish last name meaning "Bear forest". (As far as I can tell, it's not a first name.) **__**Oxenstierna**__**, an ancient**__**Swedish**__**noble family, the origin of which can be traced up to the middle of the 14th century, which had vast estates in**__**Södermanland**__**and**__**Uppland, and began to adopt its armorial designation of Oxenstierna ("Ox-forehead";**__**stierna**__**, in modern spelling "**__**stjärna**__**", has the double meaning of "star") as a personal name towards the end of the 16th century.**_

_**Nidhug Dahl is Denmark.**_

_**Nidhug is the Danish form of the Old Nor**__**se name **__**Níðhöggr, which means "cruel biter". In Norse Mythology, Níðhöggr is a dragon that gnaws at the foot of Yggdrasil; the World Tree.**__** I**__**ts name might refer to its role as a horrific monster or in its action of chewing the corpses of the inhabitants of Náströnd: those guilty of murder, adultery, and oath-breaking (which the Norsemen considered among the worst possible crimes).**__** Dahl is a Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish last name meaning "valley". Its most famous bearer was Roald Dahl, a famous author with Norwegian parentage born in Llandaff, Wales.**_

_**Arthur Alvey is England (Kirkland is a Scottish name.)**_

_**Arthur is a Celtic name of obscure meaning, suggestions include "bear-man", "king", "war leader", "emperor" or "warrior". Alvey is an English name derived from the Anglo-Saxon "**__**Ælfwig", meaning "Elf battle".**_

_**Hrafn is Iceland**_

_**Hrafn is an Icelandic name meaning "Raven". In most cultures, Ravens are bringers of death, however, in English folklore, there is a legend that is there are less than 6 Ravens at the Tower of London, England shall fall to hard times, but if there are none, our country will fall and exist no longer.**_

_**Sorry for so much information, I love this game and researching for it is very fun!**_

**Rörliga Bilder**

In the old days, man tried to catch a glimpse of the future in the strangest of ways. They locked themselves in dark rooms, not partaking of food and drink. At the stroke of midnight, they ventured out into the night, through the dark woods where strange creatures roamed. To see if they would be wealthy, to see if they would be happy, to see if they would live, to see if they would be loved. This was known as Årsgång, or Year Walking.

_Jag antar att detta var en prolog..._

Berwald Oxenstierna tried to stay away from conflict. A great many people found this fact about the Swede confusing, when taking into account his rich Viking heritage – a trait shared by many of the Scandinavian peoples – the truth was he just didn't really see the point.

However, there was one man with whom he would almost always start a quarrel, and that man's name was Nidhug Dahl, a Dane that his lover had promised to marry.

Oh...his lover, Arthur Alvey, originally from Lancaster, he'd taken a ship to Denmark when he was 19, and had met Berwald's long-time rival, Nidhug. They'd moved to Vedtorp the year before, where Arthur had agreed to marry the Dane.

Nidhug worked in Stockholm from Monday to Friday, returning on Friday and going back to work on Sunday. This left Berwald quite a bit of time to sneak visits to Arthur, and today was one such day.

Silently, the native of Sweden left his cottage in the woods, and began the 20 Minute trek to the mill in the village where Arthur worked. It was getting dark, and Berwald felt the need to hurry, in case any _Mylingen _sprang at him, or the _Bäckahästen _appeared out of the stream he needed to cross.

Berwald soon reached the outskirts of the forest, and saw the village _Kvarn _in his direct line of sight. Looking around, he dashed towards the door, and quickly entered, smoothly and quietly closing the door behind him.

There were only two windows in the _Kvarn, _and the evening light shone through them, lighting up the dust in the air. The smell was slightly stale, but welcoming. He could hear Arthur softly singing somewhere.

"_Black clouds are behind me,_

_I know can see ahead,_

_Often I wonder why I try,_

_Hoping for an end,_

_Sorrow weighs my shoulders down,_

_And trouble haunts my mind,_

_But I know the present will not last,_

_And tomorrow will be kinder._

_Tomorrow will be kinder,_

_It's true I've seen it before,_

_A brighter day is coming my way,_

_Yes, tomorrow will be kinder."_

"_Vacker, som alltid, min kärlek,_" Berwald smiled, and Arthur walked into his view, his mid-length blond hair in a pony tail, and a sweet smile on his face.

"There you are! I've been waiting for you all day!"

_Jag tror att historien kommer att bli läskigt..._


	2. Arthur

**Årsgång**

**A/N: **** This update was pretty quick, but I wanted to get on with it, it's so fun~! The last batch of info was massive, so I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. The disclaimer can be found in the first chapter, **_**Rörliga Bilder, **_**so here is the second chapter, Arthur! **

**The second song is called "Stina", but Stina is your lover in the original game, so I've changed it to Arthur uwu Enjoy!**

**Arthur**

"There you are! I've been waiting for you all day!"

The Northern Englishman smiled and ran forwards, seizing Berwald in a hug. The Swede stumbled backwards, but regained his balance and hugged the other back.

"'M s'rry," he muttered, placing his chin on the smaller's head. Arthur stepped back and took in Berwald's appearance, suddenly getting a slightly exasperated look on his face.

"You should not go outside without a hat on a cold day like this! It's New Years' Eve! You'll freeze your ears off! And I'm quite fond of the person those ears belong to," he ranted, brushing soft, powder snow off the larger man's shoulders, then he looked up into Berwald's blue eyes, "Did anyone see you coming here?"

Berwald felt a small surge of anger building up within him, "Why? You 'shamed o' me!?"

Arthur suddenly stepped back, "_Nej! _Of course not! You're being silly, I'm not ashamed of you. I just don't want Nidhug to get angry...I like you very much. But you and I are from different worlds, and he and I are getting married next year. It's already approaching so fast..." Arthur turned away from him, and looked at the cloudy sky outside the window.

Berwald watched him for a while, "...'M going to Year Walk."

Arthur whirled around, a look of intense panic on his face, "Year Walking!? I hope you're joking. You _do _remember what happened to my cousin, don't you? Hrafn was only 15..." he looked intensely into the Swede's face, "...Promise me you won't do anything foolish. We are not supposed to know what happens in the future. My father told us he took the _runkavle, _but now he is quite mad, and must stay in bed at all times...I don't know what I'd do if that happened to you or Nidhug..."

"Art'ur, please...I h've t' do this."

Arthur sighed in resignation, despair thinly veiled in his green eyes, "You should hurry home to your cottage and get some rest..."


End file.
